The independent horror film may have exploded in the Seventies, but its continued success throughout the Eighties solidified it as a commodity. (And that’s just about the only good thing that happened in pop culture during the Eighties - remember that gawdawful music?) Down the ensuing years, Prison has proven considerably less popular and influential than some of its peers like A Nightmare On Elm Street or The Evil Dead, but it’s easily one of the best horror films of the Spandex decade.(read more...)

Prolific Grade-D genre director/writer David Prior’s 1986 schlock-fest, Killer Workout, is a difficult film to rate. That’s because much of the time, it is bad enough to be fun, but about as often, it's just painfully bad. However, it still holds an attraction, not completely unlike gazing in fascination at an animal carcass while hiking, that might interest fans with a quirky taste for bad films.(read more...)

In movies, it’s often much too easy to see the pivotal moment coming; in real life, we rarely do. In fact, we’re usually blindsided by it, and I must admit I prefer it that way. Case in point...(read more...)

Lots of low budget indie movies are fun. Sometimes their own sheer inanity becomes their most endearing factor. Things like The Slime People, The Blob (the original) or Biohazard. Then again there are some Indies that just don't know when to quit (ie., The Milpitas Monster where, so the story goes, the entire town pitched in to help make the movie) or should never have gotten started in the first place. That is what brings me to tonights' subject matter.(read more...)

The success of Dracula caused Universal to believe that a second horror film would be remarkably profitable. The next logical film to make would be an adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein." The film was released in December of 1931. Frankenstein told the story of Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) who, with his hunchbacked assistant Fritz (Dwight Frye), robs graves. He uses the body parts for his experiments. Henry needs a brain for his experiments, so he sends Fritz to Goldstadt University to acquire a brain. Fritz breaks in and steals a normal brain, but a loud noise frightens him and he drops it.(read more...)

When in a video store, horror movie buffs can make selections based on a wide range of factors such as direction, cinematography, acting, and style. And on some days, some may just want to see the blood fly. Flower of Flesh and Blood is noteworthy in that it strips the traditional splatter formula down to the bare minimum. It does not burden itself with things like plot or characters. It is simply a filmed record of an extremely graphic murder, and the intensity that results in watching it can be compared to drinking a triple shot of Everclear. It burns going down, gives you the shakes when it hits, and leaves you feeling dazed and nauseous.(read more...)

Yep, its another Evil Dead rip-off, but this one is full of Troma Goodness. The movie opens with a very old man writing an account of his battle with the Wendigo, an ancient evil spirit, that took place over one hundred years before the start of the movie. He managed to defeat the creature and trap in inside a mystical circle created with the skulls of the monster's previous victims. The old man warns that, should the circle be broken, the evil would return even stronger than before and plunge the world into darkness...(read more...)

Here is a fictionalized retelling of the serial murderer known as Bluebeard. John Carradine play Gaston Morrell, whose string of ghastly murders of women terrorized Paris in the early 1900s. Carradine gives possibly the most subtle performance ever in the horror genre.(read more...)

When folks start talking "independent film," they usually jump to Miramax or the works of Kevin Smith. While both started out indie, they've far surpassed that point. Are they still different? Yup. Quirky? You bet. However, I'm sure Addicted to Murder director Kevin Lindenmuth would join me in some hearty laughter to suggest that either one is making "independent film."

This is indie at its finest: unknown actors, ultra-low budgets, cheesy special effects, and ideas that are is challenging and don't pander to the lowest common denominator. For all the flaws the film has (shot on video, some lousy acting, the aforementioned effects), it has one truly great asset. Its script, which deftly combines two horror standards, the serial killer and the vampire, is intelligent, filled to the brim with interesting concepts.(read more...)

In 1960, two films came out in a fluster of controversy, due to their new takes on audience terror. One, Psycho, proved to be a success, and furthered the notion that director Alfred Hitchcock was The Master. The other, Peeping Tom, torn apart by critics and snubbed by audiences, destroyed the career of helmer Michael Powell. In hindsight, though, Psycho looks more garish and nasty, while Tom turns out to be a much better film, a portrait of obsession that has lost little power in 40+ years.(read more...)